Panthers confident their No. 2 defense can make leap in 2014
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — As a high school wrestler, Sean McDermott was a two-time National Prep School champion at 171 pounds. The 40-year-old defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers could still make that mat weight.
"I'm actually right around that. The guys give me a hard time because they think I'm skinny," McDermott said as he walked up a hill after a training camp practice Monday at Wofford College.
McDermott has all the beef he needs in a Carolina defense that last season ranked second only to the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in fewest points and yards allowed. The Panthers led the NFL with 60 sacks.
Are they aiming to finish No. 1 this season across those key defensive categories?
"Absolutely," said the fourth-year Carolina coordinator.
"But No. 1, we want to win as a team. We want to win the Super Bowl as a team. We want to be as good a team as we can be. ... Doing our part on defense, what we're focused on is being as good of a defense as we can be."
Luke Kuechly, the middle linebacker who has racked up big awards in his first two NFL seasons, said last season's unit can get better. He looks at more than stats.
"There were times we played really well last year, and there were times we didn't play as well," said Kuechly, the league's defensive player of the year in 2013 after being voted the top defensive rookie in 2012.
Though the Panthers went 12-4 last season and won the NFC South, Kuechly pointed to the two games Carolina dropped to start the season, a 12-7 home defeat to the Seahawks followed by a 24-23 loss to the Bills in Buffalo.
"(Seattle) had a drive on us at the end of the game, and we weren't able to finish. Buffalo was like that. They drove at the end of the game," said Kuechly.
"We've got to get on the same page starting from game one. ... That's one instance where we can get better. There's a ton of other ones."
Kuechly, who had four interceptions last season and was named first-team all-pro, is the cornerstone.
"Special, unique," McDermott said of his defensive star.
"We're talking a leader. We're talking about a guy that leads by example, and he helps us to develop a culture that we want around here."
But the Panthers have plenty in front of and around Kuechly.
Last season, defensive end Greg Hardy had 15 sacks from the right side. His counterpart on the left, Charles Johnson, had 11. They're both back. However Hardy was charged during the offseason with allegedly assaulting and threatening an ex-girlfriend. He remains with the team while awaiting a jury trial that may not start until after the season. Any potential NFL discipline is pending.
Hardy isn't talking about his legal case. But the 2013 Pro Bowler does believe the defense can improve.
"Yeah, most definitely," says Hardy.
"We jelled this offseason. We're going to continue to jell during camp and hopefully the heat and just the stress ... on the new guys and everything will bring them up speed, and we'll all take it to another level and advance on what we did last year."
The Panthers bolstered their pass rush by selecting end Kony Ealy, a 6-4, 275-pounder out of Missouri, in the second round.
There are other newcomers in the secondary. The Panthers lost playmaking safety Mike Mitchell to the Pittsburgh Steelers via free agency. Carolina's free agent additions include safeties Roman Harper and Thomas DeCoud and cornerback Antoine Cason.
"With the salary cap the way it is for the NFL ... there's some tweaking every year to the roster, and our team is no different," said McDermott.
"The players we acquired on the back end have done a nice job of acclimating themselves to what we do, how we do things, our culture . ... We've added some good pieces to the puzzle. So getting them the reps they need and getting them acclimated is very important to us right now."
McDermott, a former defensive back himself, bulked up to about 200 pounds when he played safety at William & Mary. But he's back near the weight at which he wrestled for LaSalle College High School in Wyndmoor, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. He was unbeaten during his last two seasons of wrestling but realizes year-to-year carryovers are not guaranteed.
"We all start from square one again. Last year was last year," said McDermott in reference to the Panthers D. "We've got to be forward-thinking as a group and as a team ... and get better each and every day."
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Follow Gary Mihoces on Twitter @ByGaryMihoces
